There is presently a growing need for permeable floors that allow water filtration into the subsoil. However, the construction of permeable concrete floors entails serious problems due mainly to their very low bending and compression resistance, and also because they tend to crumble. There is, for instance, the case of concrete without fines that is permeable but crumbles easily.
Mexican patent application No 962170 (abandoned), filed by the same inventors, describes a permeable product that solves this problem. This product can be made with terpolymers, using type 1 cement.
The additive, main purpose of this invention, noticeably improves the characteristics of the former version, which could only be mixed with type 1 cement. Although that version has some limitations, it shows good bending, compression and abrasion resistance. Its limitations are listed below:
it does not meet the resistance requirements for every type of use, so this product can only be used in parking lots, medium and low traffic streets, and pedestrian walkways;
it is very expensive;
its resistance cannot be easily controlled;
it must be packed dry; and
it does not set properly at very low temperatures.
The product of the present invention, when mixed with any type of cement, water and any hard aggregate with granulometries higher than 4 mm, provides a long lasting permeable concrete with high resistance to bending, compression and abrasion, showing excellent performance in any weather with the following advantages:
different proportions lead to different controllable levels of resistance;
it can be packed as a liquid or as a solid;
it is price-competitive with other commonly used pavements;
this new product can be used practically in any kind of weather;
this product does not degrade, because its formula contains silica aluminate, an inorganic material that reacts when combined with cement, providing great resistance to bending, compression and abrasion;
this additive results in a concrete mixture that may be used to make permeable ecological paving stone blocks; and
as a solid, this additive may be packed together with cement and stone aggregate in different ratios, according to the required resistance, for easy Do it Yourself projects.